Homecoming
by poetrygrrl39
Summary: A long lost friend returns to Sunnydale. But things are not as they seem. Takes place during Season 4, starting at The Harsh Light of Day. Please read the internal disclaimer before reading the story. Reviews will bring more!
1. Chapter 1

_This is rated T for a reason. Violence, implied and attempted sexual assault, a favorite character turned into a vicious vampire, and language. If you can't handle those things, don't read any farther._

_This is not like my usual happy fluff. You have been warned._

_This story takes place during Season Four, around and during the following episodes: "The Harsh Light of Day," "Wild at Heart," "The Initiative," and "Hush." Assume the other episodes, minus Anya and Xander, take place as shown._

_None of the characters belong to me, they all belong to Joss and ME. I'm just taking them out to play._

**Homecoming**

**Chapter 1**

Xander Harris came to a stop just outside town, eyeing the "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign. He snorted. Damn, how he hated being back here. But what the boss says, goes, he thought.

He was hungry. He hoped that Sunnydale still provided plenty to eat.

He gunned the engine of his Harley and sped into town.

A couple of hours later, his bike parked out of sight and his appetite satisfied, he saw her. The red hair was longer, but it was definitely Willow. She was walking alone along the main street, sipping at some kind of drink. Stuffing the remains of his dinner into a dumpster, he followed her, keeping to the shadows.

His Willow, he growled to himself. Should have been his years ago. He fought the urge to walk right up to her. Not a good idea, he told himself. She wouldn't want to see him. It could get ugly.

Still following her, he paused for a moment, seeing what appeared to be a ruined building in the distance. The high school? What the Hell had happened? He wished he could have been here to see that place burn.

Xander watched Willow's back as she walked along, her hair swinging, and felt his body react. He did some quick mental math, smiling in the darkness because it still wasn't his strong suit. She should be a freshman in college by now, he thought. Sure enough, he tracked her to the campus of UC Sunnydale.

He was surprised she was going to the local college. Probably hung around to help the precious Slayer, he sneered.

She met up with a short man with spiky black hair, who swung her around before kissing her. Xander growled deep in his throat from his place behind the bushes. He'd rip out his throat while Willow watched, then he'd claim her as his own. Engaged in his own fantasies, he was oblivious to anything except the two he watched.

"Whelp, what are you doing here?" asked a testy British voice behind him. Xander turned slowly, looking Spike up and down.

"You tell me. You think I wanted to come back here?"

"You thinkin' about goin' back to school?" Spike sneered. "I told you to meet me at my crypt. I had to come find you."

Xander shrugged. "I'm here now."

Xander looked back over his shoulder, annoyed that he had lost Willow and the man in the ebb and flow of the college crowds.

"Come with me, my fine young man, and we'll have a cuppa and a chat." Spike threw his arm over Xander's shoulder, leading him away.

"You only use that tone when you want something," Xander said, giving up on finding Willow right now.

"And have we forgotten what we owe old Spikey, whelp?" Spike asked. There was menace in his tone.

"No."

Not that I've ever had a chance to forget, Xander thought.

But if it hadn't been for Spike, Xander would have been wiped off the face of the planet by now.

Spike stopped to watch two giggling girls go by. They glanced back at Spike and Xander and smiled. Spike licked his lips. "Fancy a snack?" he asked Xander quietly.

"Just ate," Xander said. Then he looked again at the girls. One was a redhead. "If I get the redhead."

"Brunette's fine with me, friend," Spike said. "They all taste the same, and they all scream the same when you bite them."

"Not just interested in biting tonight," Xander said. "Looking for some fun too."

The two vampires looked at each other, nodded, and went after their prey.

After he finished with the redhead, Xander threw her body and her clothes into the river. No handy dumpster this time. He gently sucked her blood off his fingers, wishing it was Willow's. Soon, he thought. Spike might have plans for me, but when that was done, she's mine.

"Zip up, Xander, and get over here," Spike ordered. Xander did as he was told, refastening his belt as he walked over to the older vampire.

"We're here for a reason, not just for the pickings. Although, the pickings are good," Spike admitted. He nodded in approval at Xander's disposal method and tossed the brunette in after her friend.

"Tell me," Xander said. He sat down on the ground, Spike across from him.

Xander felt his mind wandering a bit as Spike went into a long, babbling story of a gem that would allow him to walk in the sunlight. It was hidden somewhere, they needed to get it, it would make him invincible, blah, blah, blah.

When Spike had spirited him out of town a few years ago, shortly after turning him, Xander had been too wet behind the ears to do what he wanted. Make Willow his. He was strong now, he knew. The years of hunting, and taking pleasure from the hunt, had made him almost as strong as his sire. If anything, he was more vicious than Spike, more interested in the pain than the blood.

All the Scoobies believed that Xander was dead, Spike had told him. They didn't know he had come back as a vampire. Spike had been waiting graveside when he had risen, helped him catch his first meal, and gotten him out of town. He smiled. Imagine Willow's surprise when her dear old dead friend turned up.

"So we find it, we dig it up, you wear it," Xander interrupted.

"And then we kill the Slayer and her little cast of helpers," Spike finished.

Xander grinned wolfishly. "Sounds good to me."

Like all of Spike's plans, this one didn't go quite right. He got the Gem of Amara, all right, but Buffy had taken it away from him. Outside. In the sun. Spike looked like he had been sleeping in a toaster.

Xander sighed to himself. He wasn't sure if a single plan Spike had created since Parent-Teacher Night, when he had turned Xander, had ever gone correctly. And actually, that hadn't been the plan at all, he thought. It had been Angel's attempt to fool Spike that had gotten Xander into Spike's clutches anyway.

And screwing Harmony! Good lord. Xander was beginning to wonder if Spike had gone off the deep end in a big way.

While Spike was nursing his burns, Xander was making plans. Plans that involved Willow.

It was some weeks later, after Spike was recovered, that Xander was able to put his plan into action. He had secured a location and stocked it with what he needed. He even stuck to strictly feeding for a few days so he would be completely ready for taking Willow.

A few nights before he was going to make his move, Spike vanished. Xander tried to decide whether to be worried or not. He decided on not. If he had been living with Harmony, he would vanish too, he thought.

Xander had trailed Willow for enough days to know her schedule. And he knew that the strange canine-smelling musician she was attached to was gone. Had seen him leave in his van, hard-faced and tearless. Willow deserved better. She deserved Xander.


	2. Chapter 2

_This is rated "T"for a reason. Violence, implied and attempted sexual assault, a favorite character turned into a vicious vampire, and language. If you can't handle those things, don't read any farther._

_This is not like my usual happy fluff. You have been warned._

_This story takes place during Season Four, around and during the following episodes: "The Harsh Light of Day," "Wild at Heart," "The Initiative," and "Hush." Assume the other episodes, minus Anya and Xander, take place as shown._

_None of the characters belong to me, they all belong to Joss and ME. I'm just taking them out to play._

**Homecoming**

**Chapter 2**

Willow walked sad-faced through the dark campus, too caught up in grief to notice anything around her. She walked almost directly into someone, and looked up.

At Xander.

"Xander?" she managed to stammer out, her voice a squeak. "We thought you were dead."

Xander chuckled. "I am, sweet Willow." He vamped out, clamping a hand over her mouth before she could scream. A quick blow to the back of the neck and she was unconscious. He swung her into his arms, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and carried her away.

He failed to notice the black-clad figure hiding in the bushes.

Willow woke to find herself tied spread-eagled to a bed, stripped naked. The room was large, and she looked up at a ceiling crossed with pipes. Warehouse, she thought to herself, why was she in a warehouse? Why was she tied up?

Xander! she remembered. Xander had shown up, he had turned into a vampire. He had hit her!

She struggled against the ropes, drawing a deep chuckle from the end of the bed. Raising her head, she saw Xander watching her. She felt the blood rush to her face as his eyes explored her body.

"Hello, Willow," he said softly. Walking along the side of the bed, he ran his ice cold hand up her bare leg, from the ropes lashed to her ankle to her thigh.

"Don't," she gasped.

"Oh, but I think I will," he said. His hand was on her stomach now, and she tried desperately to twist away from him.

"Please, Xander, stop," she begged.

"Very nice," he said, eyes partially closed with pleasure as he touched her. "Do you know how long I've wanted this? Since Spike turned me, all I've wanted was you. Now I'll have you. As many times as I want, as long as I want. And when you beg me for death, I'll oblige. And I'll make you mine for eternity."

Willow's eyes were getting wider and wider as he spoke. "You're going to turn me?" she squeaked.

His hands were at her breasts now, and she whimpered in pain as he squeezed.

"Oh, yes, sweet Willow," he said. "You'll be mine. Forever and ever. But first, I'm going to make you scream. And scream and scream and scream. No one will hear you here. I've been practicing the last few years, you know. I know ways to make girls scream that you can't even imagine."

He lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her brutally. Laughing when she tried to bite him or twist away him.

Willow was quickly moving toward terror. What was she going to do? What could she do? Would Buffy find her? Maybe Oz…

Then she remembered. Oz was gone.

Did it really matter now if she lived or died?

Willow watched panic-stricken as Xander stripped off his black T-shirt, revealing a well muscled, pale chest. His hands were on his belt, and she jerked desperately at the ropes, making him laugh again.

She might not want to live without Oz, but she didn't want to die like this.

A noise. A scraping noise from somewhere, somewhere close. Xander frowned.

"Don't go away," he told her, smiling.

Still shirtless, he left the room.

Willow panted in desperation as she struggled with the ropes. What should she do? Suddenly, as if a bucket of ice water had hit her in the face, she remembered.

Magic.

She glanced frantically around her, spotting a jagged edged dagger lying on the table next to the bed. She refused to think about what it might be there for, concentrating instead in using her mind to lift it. It floated up slowly, quivering.

Calm, Willow, she told herself. If she got too excited, she might impale her own hand. Slowing her breathing, she guided the dagger to the ropes around her wrist, commanding it to saw at them.

"Oh, ho," Xander's voice said. The dagger fell to the bed when her concentration broke. "Someone's been practicing the dark arts, have they?"

"I hate to have to gag you, or knock you out," he said, pouting in a way that was so much like the Xander she knew that her heart turned over. "It's much less fun if you don't scream."

Anger roared into her heart, and she barked a command that sent the dagger flying across the room, where it embedded itself in Xander's shoulder. He roared in pain and anger, leapt at her, hand raised to strike her.

And then all Hell broke loose.

The room was suddenly full of men in black clothing, carrying weapons. Two of them tackled Xander to the floor, struggling with him. Another commando stripped off his black sweater and threw it over Willow before untying the ropes that secured her to the bed.

Willow huddled against to the headboard, sweater wrapped around her, while the men, whoever they were, fought with Xander.

It took all four of them, and two taser blasts, to knock out the vampire. One of the commandos levered the dagger out of Xander's shoulder and stuck it into a holster at his belt.

"Are you all right, W…Miss?" asked the commando who had untied her. His voice sounded familiar, but Willow was shaking with shock and she couldn't process who it could be. The strange man wrapped his arms around her as she sobbed, reminding her of the way Xander, the Xander she had known and loved, had held her when she cried long ago. And how Oz had held her much more recently.

Willow's clothes had been ripped off her with such violence that they were unusable. Riley discovered them in a corner when Willow finally stopped crying. Even her underwear had been shredded. He helped her pull the sweater on over her head, looking away carefully. Luckily, Willow was short, and he was tall, so his sweater covered her almost to the knees. Her shoes were unharmed, and he slipped those on her bare feet.

Willow just sat, pale, staring at the vampire as his arms and legs were lashed together and he was carried away. She seemed smaller, diminished somehow, Riley thought. He knew Oz was gone, and he had gathered from her sobbed words that she somehow knew this vampire, that he had been a friend at some point in her life.

Some friend, Riley thought to himself.

He looked around at the room, obviously prepared with care for this occasion. Dark drapes over all the windows, the bed with the ropes attached. He only hoped Willow hadn't seen the collection of knives and metal tipped whips in the other room.

"What will you do with him?" Willow asked, looking up at his still masked face.

"He'll be given to the authorities, Miss. I'm sure they'll want a statement from you," Riley said. He tried to disguise his voice, but she frowned at him as if trying to work through a puzzle.

"He's not just some kind of crazed serial killer rapist person," she said dully, turning her gaze back to the door where the other men had disappeared with the trussed up vampire. "He's a vampire."

Riley was startled. How could she know that?

"I grew up in Sunnydale, you know," she said, now staring at her clenched hands. "You don't grow up here, and know the Slay…the lay of the land, without knowing about the vampires."

Riley wondered what she was going to say when she changed her words so abruptly. But he didn't want to get into a long conversation with her and chance her recognizing his voice.

"Let's get you back to your dorm," he said.


	3. Chapter 3

_This is rated Tfor a reason. Violence, implied and attempted sexual assault, a favorite character turned into a vicious vampire, and language. If you can't handle those things, don't read any farther._

_This is not like my usual happy fluff. You have been warned._

_This story takes place during Season Four, around and during the following episodes: "The Harsh Light of Day," "Wild at Heart," "The Initiative," and "Hush." Assume the other episodes, minus Anya and Xander, take place as shown._

_None of the characters belong to me, they all belong to Joss and ME. I'm just taking them out to play._

**Homecoming**

**Chapter 3**

Xander woke up in a place that was lit so brightly it made his head hurt. He tried to remember what had happened.

"Willow!" he screamed when he remembered the loss of his prize. He leapt to his feet and charged head first into a wall. He clutched his head and roared in anger, his face vamping out.

"Calm down, mate," said Spike's tired voice. Xander looked through a clear partition to see Spike sitting on the floor of the cell next to his, head resting on his knees.

"Spike, where are we? What's going on here?"

"Dunno, whelp," Spike said. "Been here a while. Keep sticking things in me, needles and such. Some places they don't belong, if you get my meaning."

Xander looked at the older vampire. He looked…beaten. Tired. What could do that to a vampire? Especially one as powerful as Spike?

Xander had no more time to ask. Two men appeared outside his cell. Suddenly, the room lit up with electricity and he collapsed to the floor with an anguished scream.

Spike watched as they dragged the younger man away, and sighed. Better Xander than him, he thought.

Oh, bugger, he added, when they came back to his cell and the light flashed again.

When Xander woke up, he felt strange. First of all, he felt cold. He hadn't felt cold in three years. And he was hungry. But not hungry for blood. Hungry for…a cheeseburger?

He raised his head, looking around him. He was strapped onto a gurney, yellow liquid dripping from an IV into his arm.

"What's going on?" he asked. His voice was weak.

An older woman in a lab coat came over and looked down at him.

"Ah, Hostile 22 is awake, I see," she said. She scribbled something down on a clipboard.

"My name is Xander Harris," he said.

"Now, tell me, did you use that name when you were a vampire?"

"Yeah, I…." Xander paused. He shook his head as if rattling his brain would help. "What do you mean, 'when you were a vampire'? I **am** a vampire."

She laughed.

"Not anymore," was all she said. She walked away, leaving Xander very confused behind her.

His brain tried to process what she was saying, then he passed out again.

The second time he woke, he was sitting in a chair, arms strapped down. Two people were arguing behind him.

"What do you mean he 'escaped'? Hostile vampires don't just 'escape'. And how could you lose one with that hair color, anyway? It's not like he could hide in the dark," demanded the woman's voice. Xander suppressed a chuckle, glad that Spike had gotten away. What he heard next took all the laughter out of him.

"The chip will prevent him from doing any harm to a human," said man's voice. "He can't hurt a human, can't feed. Perhaps he'll just starve and disappear."

"Could we be that lucky?" the woman asked. Sighing, she looked at Xander.

"So, Mr. Harris is awake again," she said, leaning down to look into his face. He prepared to lunge for her throat, then realized he didn't want to.

"What did you do to me?" he asked, horrified.

"We separated the demon from your body and replaced it with some lovely computer technology that, according to what we've found, should operate in place of what some people would call your 'soul,'" the woman said in a matter-of-fact tone. "You are, actually, a human being again. Beating heart and all"

Xander groaned. Closed his eyes. Remembered all the people he had killed. Girls, women, he had raped and fed upon.

And Willow. What he had done to Willow.

"Kill me," he hissed, eyes clenched shut.

"Not by any means, Mr. Harris," she exclaimed. "You're too valuable. You are the first vampire to survive this process. I had almost given up on it. We had moved on to other technology, as I'm sure Hostile 17 is discovering right now."

She turned back to the other person in the room. "Perhaps it is because he became a vampire so recently. All the others had been taken over by the demons many, many years ago. Although his demon melded well with Adam."

"You don't understand!" Xander shouted at her. "I remember it. I remember all of it. Everything I did. Everything I felt. The…good God….the pleasure of what I did. I can't live with what I did."

Bile rose into his throat. He tried to choke it down. Then he remembered Willow's pleas for release. And he vomited all over the floor and the doctor's shoes.

Dr. Maggie Walsh ignored his demands for death, and assigned a close watch on him to ensure that he didn't take matters into his own hands. Xander felt like two people: the Xander Harris he had been before he was turned, and the vampire he had become.

If he could have forgotten what he did, it might have been survivable. But he couldn't.

He finally understood why Angel was so damn broody all the time. He had a hundred years of evil memories to face. Xander only had three. But they had been a busy three years.

When he slept, he remembered the faces of his victims. The blood, the feel of forcing his way into their bodies. He woke screaming, covered with sweat, and, sometimes, with erections that shamed him to tears. The demon might be banished, but the feelings remained.

He had no idea how long he had been trapped in this place. Weeks, he thought. The lights never went out, the people never went away. He was stuck with needles and tested more times than he could count.

Walsh and the male doctor disappeared at some point. No one would tell him where they had gone. After they vanished, though, everyone was too busy to pay him much attention.

Xander couldn't decide what to do. Kill himself, try to escape, or just stay here being a test dummy for the rest of his natural life.

Finally, he decided to escape. If nothing else, he could apologize to his friends for what he had done to Willow.


	4. Chapter 4

_This is rated "T"for a reason. Violence, implied and attempted sexual assault, a favorite character turned into a vicious vampire, and language. If you can't handle those things, don't read any farther._

_This is not like my usual happy fluff. You have been warned._

_This story takes place during Season Four, around and during the following episodes: "The Harsh Light of Day," "Wild at Heart," "The Initiative," and "Hush." Assume the other episodes, minus Anya and Xander, take place as shown._

_None of the characters belong to me, they all belong to Joss and ME. I'm just taking them out to play._

**Homecoming**

**Chapter 4**

Willow had reappeared in their dorm dressed in nothing but a black, military style sweater and her shoes, the day after she disappeared.

When Buffy had tried to find out what had happened, she got incoherent sobbing for an explanation. It was nearly two weeks, after the Gentlemen, before Willow finally told her.

And Buffy held Willow's secret for two weeks. Then she called Giles.

Giles was now pacing around their dorm room, rubbing his glasses with a handkerchief. Buffy had persuaded Willow to go to class, so they were alone. The Slayer sat on her bed, hands tucked underneath her thighs. She couldn't tell Giles all of it, she had decided. But she gave him what she felt was the important information. And she couldn't hide her fear about Willow's state of mind.

"And she's sure he was a vampire?" Giles asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Giles, I think she's seen enough vamps to know," Buffy said. "That's not the point. She's falling apart. What with Oz being gone, now to know that Xander isn't dead, that he's been a vamp all this time, that he would…try to do what he did…."

There was a long pause. She looked away from her Watcher's glare.

"Turn her, I mean," she said lamely.

"Buffy, you aren't telling me something," Giles said severely. "Please, I need to know all of it."

Haltingly, Buffy told him the parts she had left out. Xander's promises of raping Willow for days. The position she had been tied up in. The way he had touched her.

Giles sat down heavily on Willow's bed. "Dear Lord," he said.

"Giles, she said he told her that he had been 'practicing' on other girls for years," Buffy said. She put her head in her hands. "Xander. This is Xander we're talking about. Gentle Xander."

Giles patted her on the shoulder. "It's not Xander any longer, Buffy," he said. "It's a demon in Xander's body. When you look at him, he's the thing that killed Xander, not Xander himself."

"That's a bit harsh," said a voice from the doorway. Buffy leapt to her feet, pushing Giles behind her.

Xander was leaning on the doorframe. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Get out of here!" Buffy yelled. She dropped into a fighting stance.

"Wait, Buffy," Xander said. He raised his hands, aware they were caked with dirt and blood from digging his way out of a blocked tunnel. What he wouldn't give for vampire strength, he had thought at the time. A thought that made him want to throw up again.

Getting out of the Initiative had been easier than he could have hoped. The place was overcrowded with demons, vamps and other critters that went bump in the night. No one had any interest in a former vamp, now human.

Xanderpointed at the window. "Sunlight." He pointed at the door. "No invite." Then he held out his wrist to her.

"Pulse."

Buffy grabbed his grubby wrist with more strength than was absolutely required. And felt his pulse throbbing against her fingers. She dropped his hand as though burned.

"Xander?" she asked, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Alive, kicking, undemony and all full of computerized soul," he said.

Xander heard the door open behind him, heard a gasp, and turned in time to see Willow's fist crash into his face.

"Ow!" he yelped. He fell to the floor, barely avoiding Willow's kick to his ribs by rolling out of the way. She was waving her hands and chanting in a language Xander didn't know, but one he was sure was going to result in a lot of pain for him.

"Willow! Willow, stop!" he heard Giles yell. The former Watcher caught the enraged witch around the waist, pulling her backwards, clamping one hand over her mouth. "He's human again. He's truly Xander."

Willow stopped struggling, looked at Xander, blood pouring from his nose. He was panting with pain and effort. He struggled to his feet, then sank to his knees in front of Willow and Giles, head bowed.

"I'm sorry, Will," he whispered, staring at the floor. "I'm so very sorry."

Willow wiggled free of Giles, looking down at him. Buffy gestured something, and, hand shaking, Willow touched his neck. He was warm. His pulse was beating. He was Xander.

But he was also the monster who had lashed her to a bed, touched her against her will, and threatened to rape and kill her.

It was too much for Willow. She fainted.

When she came to, she was lying on her bed with pillows underneath her feet. She could hear arguing.

"I'm leaving," she heard Xander say. The pain and self-disgust in his voice were profound. She kept her eyes shut and listened. "I've done what I came to do. I apologized to Willow for what I did. I can't apologize to anyone else. They're all dead. Because I killed them. They died in pain and suffering and went screaming to wherever it is souls go."

"Xander, I'm sure you weren't that bad," Buffy said softly.

"Buffy, I can remember every man and woman I killed," he said. "You don't want the count. I can see their faces, hear their screams. I remember how it felt to..."

He dropped his eyes, staring at the floor, swallowing hard.

"I was sired and trained by Spike. And I perfected his art. I've kept girls like Willow alive for days, drinking from them, using them. He was in awe of me. What does that tell you?"

Buffy and Giles looked at each other.

"What?" Xander said.

"Spike is…around," Buffy said. "He never mentioned you. Turning you. Or that you're still around. I mean, we knew you...died...while he was in town, but..."

Xander snorted. "He can't hunt, from what the doctor said. I'll bethe's relying on you guys."

Giles and Buffy gave non-commital shrugs.

"Yeah, he needsyou to feed him and keep thesoldiers off his sorry ass.Why would he mention turning your best friend and screw up the pity parade?

"That's not the point. I'm out of here."

"Xander, be reasonable," Giles snapped. "Where will you go?"

"Somewhere that isn't here," Xander snapped back. "It's a big world, you know. Somewhere I haven't been. With a lot of sun. Where I won't be reminded of another girl tortured and dead around every corner."

"It wasn't you, Xander," Willow said. She opened her eyes and the three looked at her. "It was the demon that took you."

"Willow, I'd like to believe that," he said. His brown eyes were swimming in tears. He had cleaned the blood off his face and washed his hands, she noticed irrelevantly. "But I can still remember it. And I can remember how I enjoyed it. That…emotion…is human enough, isn't it?Maybe it was the monster inside me that drove me to it. But whatever humanity was left in here, it didn't stop it."

He swallowed hard again, willing himself not to throw up. The tears rolled down his face, but he made no attempt to hide them. "When I think about what I did to you, I can still feel the pleasure that the vampire I was took in it. And I also feel my own disgust. Willow, I don't know who's going to win this battle inside of me.But I don't want to be here when I find out."

Willow stood up from the bed, shaky. She reached out and wiped the tears from Xander's face, holding his chin firmly when he tried to pull away. Then she stepped in close to him and put her arms around him.

Xander's heart was pounding, his breath rasping. His emotions were roiling in his head. He wanted to hug her back. He wanted to shove her away. He wanted to scream and run.

But he didn't want to hurt her. He wasn't aroused by the contact. All he felt was her love flowing through him and into him. And he felt himself returning it.

He gently put his arms around her, and exploded into sobs, clinging to her. He felt Buffy slam into his other side, almost strangling him in her grip. She and Willow were both crying as well.Xander threw one arm around the Slayer, holding the two girls close.

And then Giles put his arms around all three of them, like a father would hug his children.

Xander opened his eyes to look at the Watcher, who nodded slowly.

"Welcome back to Sunnydale, Xander," he said softly. "Welcome home."

FIN


End file.
